Streamlined management with Jira Software elevates quality, speed, and time to market for strategic projects in a holding comprising over 20 companies. Learn more about this SPM modernization case study!
The Client
This global financial sector holding company is one of the most valuable brands in the Americas, operating in insurance, health, and banking. With over 10,000 employees across more than 25 companies, the group is responsible for an ecosystem of products and services integral to the daily lives of many customers.
The portfolio management is centralized in a corporate agile transformation office, ensuring investments align with strategic objectives while preserving the innovative spirit that has defined the company for over seven decades.
The Project: SPM modernization
In 2022, the company repositioned itself in the market, preparing for future growth and new entrants across various sectors. This compelled the company to modernize its strategic portfolio management, as the 450+ projects at the time were managed through non-integrated, low-maturity processes and technological solutions.
The company leveraged the expertise of e-Core, a partner in another operational modernization project, to implement an automated portfolio management process using Jira Software. During and after the project, practices, methods, and frameworks were adopted, adapted, and combined for strategic portfolio management in the chosen Atlassian stack, tailored to the organization’s context and culture. This balanced resource allocation, maintained strategic coherence, and made the approval process faster and more efficient.
Deliveries
- End-to-End Optimization and Automation: Implemented within the Atlassian Stack.
- Standardization: Established uniformity in project intake, selection criteria, evaluation, and prioritization.
- Strategic Integration: Incorporated a strategic vision into the process within the tool.
Impact
- Improved Time to Market: Achieved a 25% reduction in project approval time.
- Increased Profitability: Enabled the selection of more lucrative projects.
The Challenges
The company’s Agile Transformation Area managed a portfolio with over 450 projects submitted for approval from all the companies within the holding. Without a unified process encompassing the diversity of initiatives, several challenges had to be overcome, including:
- Resource Allocation Decision-Making: Difficulty due to the lack of a single management view for all projects.
- Selection and Monitoring Complexity: High complexity and long response times in the project selection and monitoring process, which relied on spreadsheets.
- Strategic Alignment: Difficulty in connecting projects to strategic objectives, leading to resource allocations misaligned with long-term vision.
- Error Exposure: Increased exposure to errors due to the complexity of managing a large volume of processes via spreadsheets.
The Solution
The company’s Agile Transformation Office partnered with e-Core to implement a strategic portfolio management modernization project. The project included the following components:
- Process Automation: e-Core’s team automated the project selection and monitoring process, enabling the identification, categorization, and selection of the best initiatives within Jira Software.
- Standardization of Criteria: Clear criteria were established for project evaluation and prioritization, including categories such as financial return, strategic alignment, and technical feasibility.
- Strategic Connection: Strategic coherence criteria were integrated into the tool’s process, ensuring resources were allocated to drive the long-term vision.
Results
The project, in partnership with e-Core, had significant impacts on the company’s strategic portfolio management:
- Improved Time to Market: The new process resulted in a 25% reduction in the time required to select and approve new projects, increasing the company’s efficiency and agility in launching new products.
- Strategic Coherence: With the process fully aligned with strategic objectives from the initial stages, there was greater alignment across departments with the company’s goals.
- Increased Profitability: Profitability became one of the strategic coherence criteria incorporated into the process. Consequently, resources were directed towards more lucrative initiatives.
- End-to-End Visibility: Strategic portfolio management is now integrated with the tracking of hours worked by technology suppliers within Jira, providing a clearer view of where investments are directed and how they contribute to growth and transformation.
The partnership between the global financial services holding and e-Core resulted in a significant transformation in project portfolio management. This modernization journey not only optimized processes but also provided end-to-end visibility, enabling more effective and informed management of technology investments. As a result, the company is better prepared to face future challenges and continue its success in the financial and services sectors.
